PEEK: Memory like a stuffed elephant

MICHAEL REED

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, July 2, 2008

We were reminded recently that the circus is in town — or, more accurately, will be in town in a couple of weeks.

Of course, by then we will have already started taking for granted the stuffed, blue-eyed elephant that arrived at our office courtesy of the folks at Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey to help us remember the July 16 opening date at Reliant Stadium.

By then, our pachyderm pal in his — or, is it her —bright red-and-gold vest will be just another forgotten bit of paraphernalia lying about the newsroom, collecting dust. (Not unlike our reference books, or in some cases, our cohorts, but we digress.)

We know this will happen because it always does. After all, we do not have as good of a memory as an elephant is supposed to have, not even a stuffed elephants.

All this leads, not quite as seamlessly as we’d hoped, to a rather unusual press release that accompanied our new pal. We we finally got around to reading it after we’d grown tired of poking each other with his — or, is it her — little tusks.

It seems the circus folks find themselves fielding so many questions about training their real elephants and tigers that they decided to include a few tips* about training less exotic animals living in their patrons households.

A lot of the advice involves memory, too — like remembering training involves a 24-hour commitment to the animal, which includes providing plenty of water and food, protection from the sun and proper grooming.

The trainers then advise teaching pets do things based on behaviors they seem to enjoy, using praise and rewards, and speak to them in “short voice commands.” Also, training should take place in a quiet environment where there are few distractions.

Hmm, this method is so simple it seems like it might even work on people, especially if one of the rewards turned out to be one of those nifty red-and-gold vests.

*To read all 12 pet-training tips, visit www.hcnonline.com, click on West University Examiner in the left column, go to the left column again and click on “opinion.” Then click on “Peek,” scroll to the bottom and click on the link provided. We know, it seems like a lot of work, but try to think of it as training, complete with a reward.